2-year-old spotted hidden church cam first

BETHALTO — A member of Zion Lutheran Church in Bethalto has reported to police that she was in the women’s restroom of the church with her 2-year-old daughter when she spotted a suspicious package that was recovered by David L. Von Bergen, 58, of Alton, who has been charged with several counts in connection with cameras found throughout the church.

The woman reported that, on Christmas Eve, she was in a stall of the bathroom with her daughter when she discovered a package with a hole in the corner. She said when she looked in the hole, she saw “two circles on a device,” according to an official document filed in the case.

The document also states that Von Bergen has admitted placing the cameras in the church.

The woman said Von Bergen came in the bathroom, took the package and told the mother it was a “smoke detector.” Police continue to investigate the case. The mother’s statement is part of a document police have filed in requesting a search warrant for video surveillance recordings inside the church.

Von Bergen was charged with two counts of unauthorized video recording, a Class 3 felony; one count of conspiracy, obstructing justice, a Class 4 felony; and one count of unauthorized video recording, a Class A misdemeanor, after multiple video cameras were found in Bethalto’s Zion Lutheran Church on Dec. 24.

Much of the evidence already discovered in the case was found when a church elder told police that on Christmas Eve, he, the elder, was preparing the church for evening services and that Von Bergen was scheduled to be an usher that night.

The elder located a suspicious black box in a closet. He turned the box over to pastor Kale Hanson, who has been charged with a count of obstructing justice for allegedly destroying the memory cards of the cameras at the request of Von Bergen.

The same elder then found an identical camera inside a box he found in a stairwell and another camera in a closet. The elder also turned those cameras over to the pastor.

After Von Bergen attempted to recover the cameras from the pastor and convinced Hanson to destroy the memory cards, Von Bergen left the church and did not return.

Video surveillance of the church on Christmas Eve shows Von Bergen entering the church, carrying bags found with one of the cameras. The video show Von Bergan moving throughout the church holding a box of candles and a black box, possibly the one that carried one of the cameras.

The video was provided by an owner of a business that has a contract with the church to provide surveillance. The owner of the business told police that all of the surveillance video from the church was available at his business. The document filed Tuesday is in support of a request for a search warrant of video recordings of the church between noon and 11:59 p.m. on Christmas Eve.